gnawing

adj

1. severe or intense

   “Engleitner found the constant gnawing hunger harder and harder to bear. When the rations eventually increased again and the prisoners were given stew, it did not make much difference to Engleitner.”

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of gnaw

noun

1. The process by which something is gnawed.

   “the gnawings of mice”

2. A sensation of being gnawed.

   “The spirit of slavery raves under tormenting gnawings, and casts about in blind phrenzy for something to ease, or even to mock them.”

   “"If I made them suffer the pains of exile, I would not let them endure also the gnawings of starvation.”

   “But from the time we returned from our first journey, after having spent some months in trying, as some one put it, to "discover America," I felt the gnawings of excited appetite.”